Happy Halloween 2012

Eek!! Happy Halloween!!

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

First Weekend in October Barn Charm!

I absolutely LOVE autumn!! And I'm so glad October's here. Anyway, over the weekend, we went to a local farm to pick pumpkins and let Livie enjoy a pony ride.

And, of course, while we were there, I had to take some photos of the barn, specifically for "Barn Charm."

This is Bart's Farm in Marion, IA. (Click here for a heartwarming story about the family that runs the farm). And this is their barn.

During the autumn, you can pick pumpkins of all sizes, either by going into the field and picking your own, or choosing from the scores of pumpkins they've already picked and have waiting in rows in the yard. They also have decorative straw bales for sale, as well as gourds, "Indian" corn, and such. 

Plus, there's a paddock where they give pony (and horse) rides. Over the weekend, Livie rode a palomino horse named "Hulk" (you can see him in the second photo). In previous years, she's ridden a small pony named Princess and a Quarter Horse named Duke.

Anyway, it's a fun outing, which we all look forward to every year. Our first year visiting their farm (2008), we'd just learned about it by chance; but since we'd had such a fun time there, it's become an annual autumn tradition. That's where we get our autumn/Halloween pumpkins every year!

A bit of texture on the photo!

Some of the pre-picked pumpkins!

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the "Barn Charm" button below to check out Bluff Area Daily for other "Barn Charm" entries:

Halloween 2011, a Photo Tour

This year, Livie was a pink pony for Halloween. She used the cute little ghosty bag we'd gotten for her around Halloween in 2005, while I was still pregnant.

Here's the "photo tour" of our night of trick or treating:

She's ready to go!

Posing next to the jack-o-lanterns!

Showing off the "pony tail"!

Mid-trick or treat; "Which way, now?"

"Mama, no more pictures!"

Seamus the Halloween Kitty.

"The Orange House"

The "house with the skeleton in the cage" (near the door).

Tired (after two hours of trick or treating)!

Lots of loot!

A Fun Game of Christmas Tag!

Okay, so I've got a fun post today!

I've been tagged by Lisa at Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs to play Christmas tag! She's got a great blog filled with fun things like recipes, adventures she's been on, fun things she and her sons have done, great photos (you know, because a picture's worth a thousand words). AND she hosts Memory Lane Friday every week! When you get a chance, check out her blog. It's one of my favorites.

Anyway . . . she was tagged for this game of Christmas tag in blog-land, and now she's tagged me and a few other bloggers. So to keep the game going, I'm going to answer the questions she's posted. (To see her answers, by the way, check out her A Fierce Game of Christmas Tag post.)

1. When do you usually know and feel that it's finally the holidays?
For me, I think it usually starts around Halloween. See, because there's just something fun and festive about Halloween, with all the candy, the costumes, the trick-or-treaters. And now that Livie is trick-or-treating, it just feels like it's the kick-off for the holiday season.

Plus, just a couple weeks after Halloween, it's Veterans' Day, and my birthday. Then another couple weeks to Thanksgiving.

2. What do you want for Christmas this year?
 A horse, of course. And a dog. Well, not really, because we're on a tight budget, so nothing much. Maybe a couple things from L.L. Bean, or a couple "date nights" with Andrew so we can go out to a restaurant or to a movie (True Grit, Little Fockers, to name a couple).

3. Do you go all out with decorations?
Not really.  The tree, the stockings, a little chile-ristra made up of chile-pepper shaped red lights which we hung in the kitchen and turn on when it gets dark.

4. What are you doing Christmas Eve?
The morning of the 24th, I'm making our Christmas Eve dinner - chicken posole. Then it'll go into the fridge while I clean up the kitchen.

Then in the afternoon, we're getting dressed up to go to the first Christmas Eve Mass at 4:00 PM.  Afterward, we'll head home to heat up dinner and have a nice time at home.

Oh, we're going to track Santa's progress at NORAD's Santa Tracker. 

Hopefully Livie will go to bed early and easily, in preparation for Santa's visit.

Andrew and I will then be Santa's helpers, and, well, you know the rest . . .

5. What are you doing Christmas Day?
Well, Livie will get up so she can see what Santa brought. We'll eat breakfast, then head out to my parents' house (about 130 miles away) to visit with them for a few days. My mom is apparently going to make tacos for Christmas dinner!

6. It's Christmas time. What are you reading?
I'm reading a book called Crescent Dawn by Clive Cussler. It's not a "Christmas" book because it's action-adventure. But it was an early Christmas present from my father-in-law, so it's an appropriate read, right? ;)

7. Favorite movie to watch during the holidays?
I'd have to say Miracle on 34th Street, the 1994 version. This was the topic of last Friday's Memory Lane Friday. CLICK HERE to read that post. But I also like Bad Santa, but that's not one I can watch with Livie.

8. Favorite Christmas song?
Hmm, let's see . . . Harry Connick, Jr's version of We Three Kings which I can't help but dance along to. Also, his version of The Little Drummer Boy, Dean Martin's Silver Bells, Eartha Kitt's Santa Baby, and Chris Botti's O Little Town of Bethlehem.

9. Favorite holiday drink?
Umm, usually I have to have one serving of Anderson Erickson's egg nog (non-alcoholic) to make it feel like the holiday season. Oh, and if you're wondering, Anderson Erickson (AE) is a local dairy.

There are some beverages that I'd love to try, though. I'd love to try glögi, which is a mulled wine enjoyed in Finland, and the other Scandinavian countries, as well, but they spell it differently.

I've also seen some holiday drinks in a magazine that I'd love to try - a peppermint martini type of drink, and hot buttered rum, just because I'm curious about how that tastes. One of these days . . .

10.How is your Christmas shopping going?
Done. I dislike shopping at this time of year, so I try to either get it done early, or order online.

11.If you could spend Christmas Day anywhere else, where would you spend it?
It would absolutely be in one of two places - either in Chicago, or in the Southwest.

There's something about being in a big city like Chicago around the holidays that just seems like magic. I get a little homesick for Chicago this time of year. The lights, the hustle and bustle, the hockey. . . . Plus, Andrew and I got married in Chicago just 10 days before Christmas. So I have a special fondness for Chicago this time of year.

And the Southwest? Maybe it's because I always loved Christmas at my grandparents' home in El Paso. Being with my grandparents at this time of year always brought out that Christmas magic feeling for me. Also, I love luminarias, and being in the desert Southwest at Christmastime. And the posole, tamales, and margaritas!

And maybe it was because we spent Livie's first Christmas in Alamogordo, but our New Mexican Christmas was probably one of my very favorite Christmases of all time, that Christmas in 2006.

Also, Santa Fe is magic, with the farolitos (luminarias), and the Las Posadas procession. The procession goes something like this: someone plays Mary and another plays Joseph as they try to find lodging for the night. They have a huge crowd with them as they stop at each door in the Plaza. No one answers, but they have people playing "the Devil" saying there's no room here. And at the end of the procession, someone finally does have room. Then everyone goes in and has hot chocolate and cookies.

I've always wanted to experience that. Maybe one of these years, when Livie's a little older, we'll be able to spend one Christmas there. 

12. Any holiday traditions?
My family always opened presents on Christmas Eve - the presents from family members. Then on Christmas Day, we'd open our presents from Santa.

The holiday tradition I've started with Livie is tracking Santa online, thanks to NORAD's Santa Tracker (see the link above, at question #4). I think I like it more than she does!

I've also enjoyed making cookies with Livie, now that she's old enough to help. It's fun!

13. Favorite thing about the holidays?
It's festive. I get to eat tasty treats normally reserved for this time of year. Andrew and I get to celebrate our anniversary. We get to be "Santa's Helpers" for young Livie. We get to spend time with each other, and our families.


Okay, so there you have it!

Now I'm going to tag a few people and hope they don't mind playing along:
Jessica at Little Merry Sunshine
Niki at Faith, Family, Friends and Food!
VtArmyWife at A Year in the Life of a Military Family
Beth at Social Climbers

Trick-or-treating!

Liv had a ton of fun trick-or-treating tonight!

She got a lot of loot, and she wasn't even afraid of the "Spooky Red House"! But she did get a little startled by the guy at the red house because he came out in a skeleton mask. But she said she wasn't scared!

She decided to be a spider again, just like last year. Good thing, too. Because it was really chilly, and the spider costume was toasty warm.

Here are a few photos:

Heading to the "Spooky Red House"!

Here she is, posing after getting candy from the "Spooky Red House"!

One more pose, for good measure, with the "Spooky Red House" in the background.

She wanted to do a silly pose!

Check out this house!!

This place was awesome! They had a cotton candy maker, sodas, candy, scary music, creepy crawly things, you name it . . .

Liv got some orange cotton candy here, and Andrew got a soda! It was too much fun!

Memory Lane Friday - Halloween, Part II

This week's Memory Lane Topic is Halloween, Part II!

Halloween is fun, isn't it?!

Anyway, I'll write about Livie's Halloween experiences this week.

Last week, I posted a photo of Livie in her very first Halloween costume, a red chile pepper. Here's a different photo of her in that costume. It was taken a couple days before Halloween, just so we could see how cute she'd be:

Cute, huh?! And being a chile pepper is PERFECT for a New Mexico baby!!

Anyway, we didn't take her trick-or-treating because she was only 8-months-old at the time. We did, however, hold her as we answered the door and passed out candy. It was funny (and fun!) . . . we kept getting lots of comments, like, "Aww, look at the baby dressed like a chile!"

Here she is, just before trick-or-treating started. I'd wanted to get a photo of her next to the bowl of candy. Yes, Andrew has a surprised face.  Because she was so curious about the bowl of candy (due to the brightly colored wrappers and the fun-looking bowl, I guess) - she apparently kept leaning forward, trying to reach it! He was momentarily having a hard time keeping his grip on her!

See her little outstretched hand? "If I could just get a little closer . . . "

The next year, we were in Iowa at my parents' house. By this time, she was a year and 8 months. And she LOVED cows.

So she was a cow for Halloween!

(FYI: she has Aquaphor smeared all over her mouth and nose because of chapped skin.)

Since my parents' house isn't in a very trick-or-treating friendly neighborhood, we trick-or-treated at the local mall. Like I said, she LOVED cows, and had to take her stuffed animal cow with her.

 Since this was her first time trick-or-treating, she really wasn't sure what was going on.

Abuelita has just given Livie one of her treats after we returned.

The following year, she was a pumpkin. And boy, did she LOVE being a pumpkin! While she sorta-kinda understood the concept of trick-or-treating, she had just as much fun showing everyone her costume and her ghosty treat bag, which is what she's doing in the photo below.

This was our first Halloween in our new house. I stayed home handing out candy, while Livie went out trick-or-treating with Daddy.

Now here's a funny story. There's a house just down the street whose owners change the outdoor light bulbs to red ones at Halloween, giving a creepy glow to the house.

Well, Andrew and Livie got to this "red" house, and as they walked up to the front door, they noticed a "spooky statue" sitting in the corner of the front porch. As Livie went to ring the door bell, the "statue" moved, standing up.

Needless to say, it startled her!

It was just the guy who lived at the house, not even in costume, just waiting to hand out candy. But in the darkness, with the Halloween ornaments all around and the red glow coming from the Halloween light bulbs, she hadn't noticed that he was real.

Andrew and the guy chuckled about it, due to the cuteness of the incident.

Later on when they got back, Livie kept going on and on about the spooky red house! It was REALLY SPOOKY!!

Here she is after their return, with all her loot. She has her "I'm not sharing" face, doesn't she?!

She has her ghosty treat bag and her jack-o'-lantern at her feet.

Last year, she was a spider.

She wanted both Mommy and Daddy to go trick-or-treating with her this time, so she could show me the spooky red house. While it had startled her the year before, she was absolutely ready to go there last year! She even decided it would be the first house we went to . . . and in the photo below, you can see we've just trick-or-treated at "The Red House"! 

And I'll end this post with last year's kitty pumpkin. Livie was very proud of it.

Please click on the button below to read this week's post by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs (who hosts "Memory Lane Friday" every week):

Come back next week to read "No Theme" posts!

The Arachnid's Spooky and Sweet Adventure

Our town's public library has "Story Time" for 3-5 year-olds every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM.

Since Liv doesn't go to Pre-K on Tuesdays and Thursdays these days, I'm trying to get into the habit of taking advantage of our library's programs for kids, like "Story Time." 

This week, the "Story Time" theme is all about trick-or-treating, because Halloween is just days away. Last week, at the end of "Story Time," (apple orchard-themed), the librarian mentioned that kids should come in their Halloween costumes for this week's "Story Time."

Liv was immediately excited about getting to wear a costume to "Story Time."

Now, Liv has two costumes from years past that still fit (they just fit, but not for much longer) - a pumpkin costume and a spider costume. They're both nice and warm. And considering that today is pretty chilly, feeling even colder with the 28º F windchill, I was glad we have two warm costume options (the third and final one, an Ariel mermaid option, just wouldn't work for anything other than dress-up playtime at home).

Well, she'd been going back and forth about which one she wanted to wear: the pumpkin or the spider . . . the pumpkin or the spider. Finally, she decided on the spider.

Then off we went to the library.

And somehow I hadn't even thought to bring my camera. Really? D'oh!

Well, I did get a very poor quality photo with my cell phone:

Just so you know, here's what she looks like in the costume, as seen in a good photo (taken last year when she went trick-or-treating, along with her ghosty goody bag):

Anyway, she had a blast at "Story Time"! As soon as we got to the library's conference room, she went into "spider" mode - acting creepy and making supposedly "spider-like" noises, all to the delight of the kids' librarian and other kids who'd already arrived and were waiting for "Story Time" to begin. (That's what she was doing in the first photo, above.)

Then after hearing about 25 minutes of Halloween-related kids' books, the kids' librarian took them on a Halloween Parade all throughout the library. They stopped at the children's desk and got some orange sunglasses, then stopped at other desks (circulation, info, etc) and got other treats, like Halloween-themed coloring sheets, plastic spider rings, and some candy treats.

Afterward, I'd promised I'd take her to this awesome chocolate store in town, just down the street from the library.

She had insisted on wearing her costume, even though I'd wanted to slip it off over her head, so she could wear her winter coat (the windchill WAS 28º F, after all).

So when we got to the chocolate store, she was in costume. I think she was expecting that she'd be able to "trick-or-treat," even though I'd said we'd each pick one thing out so I could buy it for an after-lunch treat.


When we got in there, she immediately knew what she wanted. A "lollipop" made out of white chocolate (colored yellow) in the shape of an ear of corn!

 Only in Iowa, right?

Oh, and because she was so cute in costume (and funny when "in character"), the lady gave her a free packet of chocolate, with two pieces in it. She'd asked me if it was okay to give it to Liv, and I said yes. At that point she hinted that Liv eat one and give me the other one, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen! 


Anyway . . what did I pick out for myself?

A caramel apple covered in chopped pecans and drizzled chocolate. Yum-o!!


But first . . . lunch. We both had PB&J. I was going to eat something else, but when I'd finished making hers, it looked so good, I made one for myself.

Here's Liv's sandwich on one of her Halloween plates. I thought the spider one was fitting, because she was a spider today.

So . . . I'll bet you never knew a spider could have such a morning of adventure, did you?!


Please come back tomorrow for Memory Lane Friday. The topic is "Halloween, Part II" ("Halloween, Part I" and "A Spooky Story" were the past two weeks' topics).

Memory Lane Friday - A Spooky Story

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is "A Spooky Story." I enjoy this time of year, so the multiple Halloween-themed Memory Lane Friday topics are fun . . . even thinking of a spooky story to relate was fun!

So . . . while I was a student at Lake Forest College (LFC), I was very involved in the theater, mostly as an extracurricular activity (props crews, lights operator, sound operator, stage manager, playwright). I did take a couple theater classes for credit (a "history of the theater" type of class, as well as a joint English-Theater Arts "play/screenplay writing" class), but a big part of my theater experience was just for fun.

Then in mid-May, just a couple weeks after I graduated from LFC in 1993, one of my Culver friends and I headed to the historic town of Gettysburg, PA; we were going to do Summer Theater at Gettysburg College. She has asked for a pseudonym, so in this post, I shall call her "Geena." Geena, by the way, had actually attended and graduated from Gettysburg College, and had been heavily into the theater.

My summer theater experience would actually include acting (mainly children's theater) as well as behind-the-scenes work for both children's theater and main stage production.

Now, as you may know, it's been said that Gettysburg is one of the most haunted places in the U.S. because of the large number of casualties occurring during this Civil War battle.

Needless to say, on our road trip to Gettysburg, Geena told me plenty of "ghost" stories about Gettysburg (both the college and the town).

I wasn't sure what to think, not really believing in ghosts, but hearing all these . . . coincidences and sightings that Geena was telling me about? It got me really curious, and just a teeny bit nervous about what kinds of "ghostly" encounters I'd experience while there, especially since Gettysburg College has so much paranormal activity.

See, Gettysburg College existed during the Civil War (though it was known as Pennsylvania College at the time). So it's natural for spooky things to happen there nowadays.

For instance, Geena told me a story about Pennsylvania Hall ("Penn Hall").  This was one of the College's administration buildings. I'm not sure what it housed before. Maybe it was a dorm?

I haven't heard this story for a while, so the details are a bit fuzzy. But here goes . . .

During the Civil War, though, it was taken over by the Confederate Army and used as a hospital and morgue. You can just imagine what it was like, considering the state of battlefield hospitals in the 1860s.

Well, during the 1980s (if I remember the story correctly), after the building had become the administration building, a couple administrators had been there, working late. Finally, they'd wrapped up and headed for home. They took the elevator, pressing the button for the 1st floor. The elevator started going down from the 4th floor . . . to the 1st, right?

Wrong! As the story goes, the elevator mysteriously bypassed the 1st floor and went directly to the basement. Unexpected, but no big deal. When the elevator doors opened, they'd be in a storage space. Right?

Think again! 

Now here comes the part not for the squeamish.

As the doors opened, the two administrators witnessed a horrific, bloody scene - an 1863 battlefield hospital setting! 

Injured, dying (or dead) men all about . . . red-stained doctors and orderlies rushing about, doing what they could to save as many lives as possible.  

These two administrators were understandably FREAKED OUT!! They tried pushing the buttons, frantic. Just as the doors closed, a doctor looked directly at them, silently beckoning them, as if wanting them to  help.

Ugh, too creepy!!

Okay, so that story would be enough to creep anybody out, right?!

Well, there are many other ghost "encounters" that happened at the College and in the town itself. Geena, of course, had relayed some of them to me as we drove to Gettysburg. Most weren't quite as creepy as the Civil War hospital scene, but they were jolting nonetheless.

Here's one more example.

Since we were going to Gettysburg College to participate in summer theater, Geena told me about the "resident" ghost of the College's theater, simply known as "The General." Seems no one knows who he is, but he apparently enjoys watching stage productions from a seat in the house, or sometimes from a catwalk above the stage. 

Well, early in the season (having been there a few days, maybe a week), another summer theater participant (we'll call her "Sue") and I were in the theater one afternoon. I don't remember what we were doing. I think Sue had given me a quick tour (filling me in on stuff Geena hadn't shown me yet). Then we went to the green room, to work on a project.

Since it was warm out, we had opened the door leading outside, propping it open with . . . a door stopper? Something heavy? A cinder block?

You know what? I seriously can't remember what it was, but since the door was kinda heavy, it must've been either a door stopper (you know, one of those wedge things you stick underneath it) or something heavy enough to keep it propped open.

We also had the door to the costume shop opened at the other end of the hall, just to get a breeze going through.

Now Sue had really been apprehensive about being in the theater alone, because everybody knew about "The General," and Sue didn't want to be there by herself because of "The General."

Actually, now that I think about it, I think she'd originally asked me to go with her to keep her company as she worked on a project. I was up for it, partly because I didn't really believe in ghosts, partly because I wanted something to do, and partly because I was curious. I mean, come on . . . was there a "General" haunting the theater? Really?!

Well, I think Sue and a number of other people had had unexplained events happen while at the theater. Maybe "The General" or maybe something else. I dunno, since I hadn't been there. But like I said she wanted company, just in case . . . she didn't want to be there alone.

So, we'd been there for a bit . . . maybe an hour or so. We had some music playing. She was working on the project, and after I wandered around, checking out the place, getting a feel for it, I was sitting in the green room, reading. A nice, quiet afternoon.

Well, it had been a nice, quiet afternoon.

BOOM!! The doors slammed shut! Both doors - the costume shop door at one end AND the door leading outside at the other.

The noise startled me, so I'd jumped. Plus Sue had let out an excited utterance. She was sure it was "The General."

I was sure I had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I hadn't seen anything, but then again, I hadn't been looking for anything.

We investigated, together. Couldn't figure out how both doors slammed shut - the heavy outer door was held open securely. At least we thought it was secure.

Now I can't say for sure that this event was caused by "The General." Maybe the doors weren't as secure as we thought they were.

But then again, I can't say that it hadn't been caused by "The General."

Ooooooooh! Spooky, huh?

 Okay, here's a Children's Theater group shot with a bit of  Penn Hall in the background.

I'm the "bunny" in the lower right hand side of the photo. 

Here I am as "Missy Mouse," again with a bit of Penn Hall in the background.

Here's Little Round Top. Fighting took place here. 

Downhill to the left is "Devil's Den" (for those of you history buffs).

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read her Memory Lane Friday post, as well as other bloggers' entries.

Come back next week when theme is Halloween, Part II.

Memory Lane Friday - Halloween, Part I

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is "Halloween, Part I." I'm going to relay a very early memory of mine. I can't believe I can remember this!

Back in 1972, when my parents and I lived in El Paso (where my grandparents spent nearly their whole lives), I vaguely remember a Halloween dressed up as a clown. This was the first Halloween memory that I have. I just remember snippets, though, just a few hazy "snapshots" of that evening's adventure.

But first, the costume. Apparently, my grandmother, Oma, made the costume herself.

 Here I am (with Oma in the background), in the costume she made for me:

"Halloween 1972" (in Oma's handwriting) is on the back of the photo. That means I was less than two weeks away from my second birthday.

I vaguely remember going out trick-or-treating with my cousin Monica, who was also dressed up as a clown. She was a number of years (4-5?) older than me. I'm not sure if Oma made Monica's costume, as well. But she might have.

Now, this particular Halloween evening, I really wasn't sure what was going on - especially since both Monica and I were dressed up in clown outfits. Do very young children really understand the concept of Halloween? I do remember feeling the festive atmosphere, though - that this was a fun adventure we were going on - even though I didn't quite understand the whole trick-or treat concept, yet.

Recently, I was talking to Oma and Naná about that long-ago Halloween. Naná was actually reminding me that Oma had made that costume, not knowing if I already knew this tidbit.

Also, Naná, who is  Monica's mother, recalled that I was so amazed at what was going on. She said I kept stealing glances at Monica, a very surprised look on my face: my eyes wide, my jaw practically hitting the ground. While Naná was recalling this memory to me, she had a huge smile on her face, and she kept chuckling. Must've been such a funny and cute thing for an adult to watch.

I'm assuming that Halloween 1972 was my first time trick-or-treating, but I'm not sure about this. I'll have to see if my mom remembers. 

And now, just because it's so incredibly cute, I'm going to finish this post with a photo of Livie's first Halloween costume (she was just about 8 months old):

 

Aww, Baby Liv as a Red Chile Pepper!

First, I thought this costume was SO cute for a baby. Second, I thought it was very appropriate, since we lived in New Mexico at the time.

Memory Lane Friday is hosted weekly by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to view her Memory Lane Friday post. While you're there, please take a moment to read other bloggers who may have linked up their Memory Lane Friday posts.

Next week's theme is "A Spooky Story."

Coffee with Ompi and Chino

My grandfather, whom I called "Sir Rafa," was a well-known storyteller.

It didn't matter what kind of story he told, whether it was an autobiographical account of his boyhood in El Paso, Texas with his brother, nicknamed Chino (supposedly because he had curly hair), or his experiences as a young man, Army recollections . . . or even something made up to entertain me and/or the rest of his grandchildren.

Here's a little background: I'm the only one who called him "Sir Rafa." I started calling him that because 1.) his name was Rafael, and 2.) I'd long ago made up a story about my family and he was a knight called "Sir Rafa" and the nickname stuck. 

Typically, the rest of his grandchildren called him "Ompa" based on the German word Opa meaning grandpa. My grandmother, Oma, was called that because it's German for grandma. I don't know how the German words for grandma and grandpa came about in our family. But they stuck. Well, aside from some of my cousins who often called him "Hijo" (meaning "son" in Spanish).

Okay, so back to his being a storyteller . . .

One day, when my siblings and I were visiting our grandparents in El Paso, he was telling us a story about a friendly little spider who liked to perch on his earlobe and keep him company. The spider's name? Ompi.

Ompi kept Sir Rafa company during many adventures throughout his life. They were always cute companion stories that kept us entertained. 

Now fast forward to the present. A number of months ago, Livie saw a spider in the garage as we were getting into the car. She got scared. So I told her, "Don't worry, it's just Ompi."

Of course, she had to ask "Who's Ompi?"

And I briefly told her about Ompi, which seemed to ease her mind about the spider in the garage.

Occasionally, she'd see a spider here or there, always remembering my story about Ompi, nervously asking me, "That's Ompi, right?"

"Yes, that's Ompi," was my usual reply.

Until one day when she saw TWO spiders. Only one could be Ompi, right?

Right. So who was the other spider?! Well, to keep her from getting worried, I spontaneously said, "Oh, that's Ompi's brother, Chino! Don't worry, he's as nice as Ompi!"

She was a little wary of me at first, not sure if she should believe me. But she finally did.

Now, every time we see a spider, it's usually "Ompi" or "Chino." If we're at Abuelita's house, it's usually Chino, because for some reason, Chino likes to travel a lot! Ompi's usually at home, keeping the house safe, and occasionally drinking hot chocolate or coffee.

Like today. Ompi is drinking coffee with me, as you can see in the photo below.

I'd gotten this mug, oh, about 3 years ago in Des Moines. Andrew and I had gone into a coffee shop early one October morning, because Andrew's a huge fan of their autumn "pumpkin spice lattes." And I saw the cup. I thought it was SO cute, I had to get it.

Ever since, I've used it all autumn long, starting around the end of September.

Since Livie and I started talking about Ompi and Chino, the "nice" spiders, she now gets excited when I use this cup. This morning, she exclaimed that Ompi is helping me drink my coffee this morning. I agreed, explaining that while he likes my coffee (with a couple Splendas and some hazelnut creamer), he prefers it "black" without sweetener or flavorings, just like Sir Rafa.

And that is how I ended up having coffee with Ompi and Chino.

Pre-K Photos

Today, Liv's getting her Fall photos taken at Pre-K. I had a cute outfit already picked out and ready for her to wear for her photo shoot. But in true 4-year-old fashion, she decided she did NOT want to wear the purple/gray/silver and rhinestone outfit I'd picked out. She very clearly, as only a 4-year-old can (meaning, very loudly, and on the verge of tears), gave me her opinion.

Instead, she chose (on her own, no help from me) something very autumn-like. . . an outfit that simply screams "HALLOWEEN!"

She even let me put little matching orange clips in her hair.

Here's her outfit:

The ghost has bling - little rhinestones placed like a little "diamond" necklace around its neck. I think that's one of the reasons why she liked it. And the little "tutu" attached to the top, and the fact that it has a ghost on it.

When she got to Pre-K, all the teachers made a big fuss over her, because she is so cute in this outfit. It looked cute on the hangar, but man-o-man, is it cute when she's wearing it!

(By the way, in case you're wondering . . . she's holding a little toy turtle, a toy purse, and a washcloth - the turtle's "blanket" - in her left hand. She wouldn't put it down when I asked her to pose for a photo.)